Is it hunger or emotion?

Stress, emotions and habits make us reach for snacks. It's easy to eat a bar of chocolate when you're sad or a double portion when you're lonely. Food is largely available 24 hours a day and is not only consumed when hunger strikes. For many people, the first step is to understand when and why they eat, as some may not realize that their food intake is driven by emotions.

Notice your emotions when you eat

Many people try dieting but gain back the pounds they had lost as soon as they lose motivation, falling back into old habits and eating emotionally. If you deal with it, you can learn to find other ways to deal with your emotions. And if you learn to recognize when you are really hungry, you can have a healthier relationship with food without having to count calories and without having a list of forbidden foods. If you consciously work on examining your eating habits and try to notice the feelings you have when you eat, you can start to spot the feelings that make us eat despite not feeling hungry.

What emotions often make us eat?

In the future, it may be easier to decide how to deal with those feelings and choose not to numb them with food. Typical emotions that make us eat are frustration, stress, reward or boredom. Often this is a pattern we have had for many years, perhaps even for most of our lives. Because it is such an ingrained habit, it can be challenging to change. For some, it might be easiest to make it clearer by writing down when you eat, even if you are not hungry - a kind of diary. This way, you can get an overview and an insight into what triggers you to eat.

Tips for good eating habits

In addition, it is a good exercise to increase your body awareness and try to notice how it feels to be full, hungry and thirsty. Many people haven't felt hunger for a long time because they are so used to eating at the same times and snacking between meals that they don't get hungry at all. It is not forbidden to eat at the same times every day, but just a very good exercise to learn to notice. Most of us can probably recognize the feeling of finishing our food so as not to leave anything on the plate. We do this despite being full. But why do we do it? It gives us a heavy feeling of being overfull and in the end, it is usually an excessive amount of food that causes obesity. It's one of those habits we pick up from childhood, when we may have been told it will rain tomorrow if we don't finish our food. Instead, take a smaller portion and feel if you are full. If you are not, you can easily scoop it up again. There's no need to overeat just to avoid leaving anything on your plate. But isn't throwing food away a waste of food? Whether leftover food ends up in the trash or in your stomach makes no difference, except that if it ends up in your stomach, it will stick to your sideburns. Avoid food waste by not buying too much food in the first place and by not cooking much more than you can eat. If there are leftovers, save them for the next day or throw them in the freezer.

By Josefine Huusom